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8.15PM: His new haircut might not be to everyone's taste (old class warrior John Prescott has likened him to Lord Snooty in the Beano) but George Osborne has won some plaudits.

According to James Forsyth at the Spectator Osborne's performance in today's Chancellor's debate 'showed there’s a lot of fight left in the Tory campaign'.

He says: 'George Osborne put in a fiery and impressive performance in the Chancellor’s debate today, firing off some memorable one-liners as well as unveiling a letter from the former head of the anti-avoidance group at the Treasury questioning the sums on which the Lib Dems’ tax plans depend. Indeed, since the Lib Dems surged, Osborne has found another level to his public performances.

'Today’s debate win followed a good spot by Osborne on the Politics Show on Sunday.

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It says: 'Half the public (49%) say they may change their mind about who to vote for, it's highest level since we started asking this in 1983.'

And turnout looks likely to be up. The percentage of those who say they are certain to vote has increased, by 11 percentage points, to 64%.

It also finds that 'in terms of party identification, a fifth (21%) generally think of themselves as Liberal Democrats. This is a six percentage point increase since February. More still identify with the Conservative party (28%) and the Labour Party (31%).'

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3.15PM: Ken Clarke's warnings over the dangers of a hung parliament have obviously needled Darling.

In a Chancellor's debate on BBC 2's Daily Politics, Clarke was rounded on by both the Chancellor and Vince Cable for suggesting Britain may have to be bailed out by the IMF in the event of a hung Parliament.

Mr Cable declared that the warnings were 'scaremongering of the worst kind..

And Mr Darling said: ;This is pretty desperate stuff. What really destabilises markets is where you make promises you can't afford to pay for.

'The Tories have made promises to cut taxes amounting to about £38 billion. They have no credible plan to pay for them. That is what makes markets roll their eyes and wonder what's going on.

'Ken Clarke ought to know better. I don't know whether this is a gaffe or whether he thought through what he was going to say but this really is a ridiculous statement to make.'